Visiting Taiwan's machine tool makers

I’m in Taiwan for the week to meet with customers and prospects, and to attend Manufacturing Taipei, the manufacturing technology show sponsored by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). It’s a non-government agency similar to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (except TAITRA is more about business development while the US Chamber is about lobbying).
I’m going to use this space to post my impressions.
Because of my schedule, the posts are probably going to start off heavy on color and light on insight.
Today is a national holiday – something like Labor Day, so anything I learn will be on my own.
Tuesday brings more focus on the publishing business than the machine tool business, but the intinerary is filled with industry insiders after that, including a trip to meet with executives in Taichung – Taiwan’s second city and home to its industrial base.
Please don’t hesitate to do the usual – comment, argue, debate, expand and digress.

My flight arrived at 6:10 a.m. local time, after nearly 14 hours from Los Angeles. The difference between airports was remarkable; while the international terminal of LAX felt third-world, CSK (Chang Kai-shek) International was quiet, orderly and well-marked. I was through customs and on a very civilized bus into Taipei within 30 minutes of touch-down.
If the trip THROUGH the airport was different from the United States, the trip FROM the airport looked a lot like the drive from Newark International to Manhattan. Substitute the marshes of northern New Jersey for rice paddies sandwiched between ramshackle manufacturing facilities, and you pretty much get the picture.
The highways here look a lot like New Jersey too. In Europe, cars are small, smaller and smallest. Here, though, they are full size. You don’t see very many SUVs (and none of the behemoth Hummers, Navigators and Tahoes); but you see all of the familiar models of the Japanese nameplates and a fair number of Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Saab, Opel and – once in a while – Ford. I've seen no evidence that GM has ever sold so much as a hubcap here. I could be wrong.
In the city, motorscooters are everywhere. At stoplights, they weave between lanes, all collecting at the front of the stopped traffic. When the light turns green, they zip away in a crowd, with a buzz that sounds like the start of the Indy 500 played at 45 rpm. It's fun to watch; just stand back.

More to come.

[ 05-02-2006, 01:08 AM: Message edited by: Bob -- AM Publisher ]

Neat.... Bring back pics too...

Monday afternoon:
I took a long walk through the commercial neighborhoods near the World Trade Center – which has an impressive 101-story office tower that claims to be the world’s tallest building. It didn’t look much like a national holiday; everyone seemed to be working.
My hotel is international, and the ring of blocks surrounding it looked like the convention district of most big cities.
But it only took about 10 minutes to get into neighborhoods where the businesses are strictly local. I tried to engage a few people in shops along the way (especially at the watch shop that had an authentic, lightly worn Oris/John McLaughlin Jazz Edition watch in the window – but I digress). Neither he, nor the two other merchants I tried, spoke a word of English. So the claim that Taiwan is bilingual is far from universal; probably mostly in the international business community, the well-educated and well-paid. Same as anywhere else I suppose.
So I stopped trying, and for the next 2 hours, I became invisible. Nobody willingly made eye contact with me, and pedestrians and cyclists – even little old ladies – constantly turned directly into my path, even as they would walk around and greet others near them. (This is a good size city – 2.5 million people – and there is a head-down mentality at street level; but no doubt: I was invisible.) I didn’t see another non-Asian the whole time.
Taiwan has been at the vanguard of capitalism in Asia. It has a two-party government; a sophisticated manufacturing base and an advanced concept of supply chain management -- leading the world in production of silicon chips (at least it did the last time I knew the stats, which was 2 or 3 years ago). It’s been an international trading center since before the United States was a nation.
But consumers here live in a much older world. Retail is still about one-window store-fronts on crowded alleys. Scooter dealers, watch shops, tailors and grocers all seem to use about the same square footage. Car mechanics work on one car at a time, in a bay that is just the right size -- if you were to replace the garage door with a big window – to host a decent selection of digital cameras and camcorders.
And everyone is a specialist. I saw one tool shop and three or four keymakers and just as many plumbing supply stores. But I never saw anything that had the broad selection of our neighborhood hardware store; never mind Home Depot.
But I’m guessing change is on the way. There’s no Wal-Mart or Target or Walgreen’s. Yet. But Costco has 4 outlets here, outside the city center – I’m sure in wealthier neighborhoods. But where I was looked very working class – not poor.
There are 2 major department stores and a mall near my hotel. One of the department stores, called New York New York, is a large collection of independent vendors under one roof. It’s really like an open-air market, with better merchandising and on 5 or 6 levels. The traffic there seemed healthy enough – very local, very young. Directly across the street is Shin Kong Mitsukoshi – a department store as I know it: a single vendor with branded departments. It was sleeker and fresher than New York New York, and carried name brand (Western) merchandise. It was bustling.
The mall was could have been on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It was organized by price point; the entrance was on the third level. As I went down, the stores became less expensive and more local. As I went up, they became more expensive and more international – Fendi, Dolce & Gabana, Tiffany.
The mall – especially the middle floors with clothing at or slightly above American price-points – was packed with young shoppers.
And everything was on sale. Sometimes the sale was marked. But most times, the shop keeper carried a calculator around and followed me; anything I saw would have a special discount – which he or she would quickly show me on the calculator. Maybe I was just an obvious Western tourist with money to spend. Or maybe this is how they do business in the mall.
To compare these two commercial experiences made a few things clear: The Western business world has not yet penetrated here, and where it has, it’s still not New Jersey. And the typical differences between young and old show up here as much as anywhere. In the packed neighborhoods, people were older. In the malls, they were younger.
Oh yeah, youth: One of the tourist brochures I picked up noted that 55% of Taiwan’s population is under the age of 30. Things here are changing every day.
Tomorrow, down to business.
(Regarding pictures: I've got a bunch in my cell phone. Only thing it's good for here. I'll have to download them when I get back home. I'll post them later).

For the next installment, see:


Tuesday in Taiwan

Bob -- thanks for the report. Hope you'll be able to post some pictures of manufacturing facilities.

Bob Thanks for the live daily reports...... having traveled a little I can understand exactly your seeing things in a strange land..... keep the the reports coming and we'll keep enjoying them, Thanks again.

Thanks. I've added the next installment at a new thread: Tuesday in Taiwan

especially at the watch shop that had an authentic, lightly worn Oris/John McLaughlin Jazz Edition watch in the window – but I digress

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I would never in a hundred years expect to hear the name "John McLaughlin" in Tawain, but connected with a "watch" somehow...not in a thousand years ! Sheesh, any Mahavishnu Orchestra watches ? If so, I want one !

Don,
I have an image of the watch, but I can't figure out how to make it show up. Let me know and I'll post it for you.
Oris made 900 of them in 1998. They're not easy to find.

Oris made 900 of them in 1998.

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Well, what I want to know is why you happened to notice that of all things and how you know about Oris and John McLaughlin !

The watch comes with a special dial that lets you count the number of notes he is playing per second ...

I hear there is also an Al DiMeola model ...

Cheers,
Bob Welland

PS. They developed the technology in the 1950's to count the drum beats of Buddy Rich

PPS. That moon dial that looks like a month dial is really in notes per second

I hear there is also an Al DiMeola model ...

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Currently a Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis model in the "Culture" collection.

Sheesh..what a strange concept...until today I had no idea such things existed beyond Mickey Mouse watches !

Now, if there was a Deckel or Schaublin model...then we'd be talkin !

www.oris.ch/english/index.html

Or maybe this Duke Ellington model presently on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ORIS-DUKE-ELLINGTON-Jazz-watch-Limited-Edition-NEW_W0QQitemZ8910856632QQcategoryZ90832QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Well, what I want to know is why you happened to notice that of all things and how you know about Oris and John McLaughlin !

Click to expand...

Don,
It's attractive, isn't it? I like watches -- I don't buy them very often; I covet them, and I respect the mechanics of a good mechanical automatic.
As for John McLaughlin, I'm a bit of a jazz freak. But I have to admit, I like the watch more because of the way it looks than the fact that it's the McLaughlin edition.
About a year ago, I saw one go up for auction on e-Bay. I made a half-hearted attempt to buy it, but I didn't really have the money at the time. Too bad; it went for less than $600. I still regret it.

As for John McLaughlin, I'm a bit of a jazz freak.

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Interesting...I haven't really kept up with McLaughlin since his acoustic work, following his Mahavishu days. One of the best guitarist in the field for sure.